Abstract

ORDONEZ-BARBA, Gerardo Manuel  and  SILVA-HERNANDEZ, Aída Lilia. Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera: transformations, reaches and results of a paradigmatic program against poverty. Pap. poblac [online]. 2019, vol.25, n.99, pp.77-111.  Epub May 25, 2020. ISSN 2448-7147.  https://doi.org/10.22185/24487147.2019.99.04.

Two decades ago, the Mexican Federal Government launched one of the first Latin American programs to use Conditional Cash Transfers as its main instrument for overcoming extreme poverty. This program, initially known by the acronym “Progresa,” has been one of the most frequently studied in the country, and most evaluations agree on its positive effects on the indicators in the primary areas it seeks to influence: education, health and nutrition. However, other studies have doubted its effectiveness in achieving higher objectives, such as its contribution to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty. Using documentary and statistical sources, in this work we assesses the program along three analytical dimensions: the first one examines the changes underlying the original program’s transformation into “Oportunidades” and later into “Prospera”; the second describes the program’s progress in terms of scope and budgets and evaluates its main results; and the third discusses the program’s importance and limitations within the framework of historical efforts to fight poverty in Mexico.

Keywords : Social policy; poverty; targeting; conditional transfers; effectiveness.